S1E12 Keeping Your Wits about You: The Importance of the Senses when Outfoxing Wolves
These Great Pyrenees were lovable but unafraid of any predator they might smell or hear. Join their order of ancient heroes!
The main point of this show is that we are invited to pay more attention to the wisdom that our bodily senses offer, to carefully listen to what they are telling us, and yet to not judge the stimuli too quickly. We discuss the importance of intuition, and the idea that the non-human universe is actively communicating with us through various senses even when it doesn't use human language.
We start with a discussion of our new Tao Te Ching translation project and share the following excerpt from our translation (follow our progress and our favorite snippets on Instagram under the handle “Taosurfers” or www.taosurfers.com):
12.
Blazing sunlight blinds eyes.
High-decibel music deafens ears.
Too much hot sauce dulls tastebuds.
Hunting and wild pursuits become exhausting.
Rare treasures entice men
to evil deeds.
Therefore, the sage
attends to inner nourishment
instead of mind-numbing diversions.
She selects healthy food,
ignoring empty calories.
If you want weekly translations before they’re published, along with reflections and commentary like this like, please sign up to be a patron. We are hoping that some folks will give us feedback about what worked/didn’t work with each translation, or offer stories that might help illustrate the Tao Te Ching for future podcasts, written materials, or videos.
If you are interested in checking out the Tao Te Ching, and can’t wait for our translation? Here are our recommended translations:
“Intuition involves the subconscious network of multiple senses. When you are dealing with unknown circumstances, or when you’re a familiar spot and something feels off, the reason we say you should trust that, even though you don’t know why you think that, is because your brain might be picking up on sights, sounds, and smells that you can’t quite understand yet.””
Derek Lin—This one both understands the philosophical concepts and the original Chinese. A go-to for accuracy.
Steven Mitchell—This one takes liberties with the original translation, but they are helpful and insightful liberties, and this is the most readable, and the most meditative if you want to have something for daily readings.
Stanley Lombardo—This presents an uncluttered, beautifully stark rendering of the original. Jeff met Dr. Lombardo when he interviewed him regarding his Ovid translation, along with Dan van Voorhis, on an old episode of ViW. He mentioned he was working on this translation, which got Jeff interested in going deep into the Tao Te Ching in the first place.
Roger Ames—This provides a philosophical translation with some great old school commentaries.
At 1:05 there's audio of Great Pyrenees working dogs in action, and what their barks mean. Here’s the poem Jeff wrote and read related to the time they slept at a goat farm surrounded by these magnificent beasts. At the end of the show, we address a listener email on the matter of divorce in severely unhealthy relationships. We mention abuse occasionally but not the details, only the ways in which intuition is important for navigating a world where not everyone is to be trusted.
We mention the work of Barbara English, who works with trauma survivors and heads up the organization called Living Ubuntu.
We mention our friends at the Snohomish County Mycological Society.
Here’s a dude who will teach you how to eat raw stinging nettles.
Here’s the scene from Jeremiah Johnson mentioned in this episode:
Click here for an article about mayhaw berries.
Here’s a video about hell in Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, Disneyland CA.
Here’s the Stephen Bell song we played:
“Go to your religious teachers for wisdom. Do not go for permission. They don’t own you.”